While Wen Sheng was working hard for Benatia, the second London derby of the season arrived.

Farmer Fulham have made great progress in the two seasons led by Huo Taigong. Last season they even almost won the Europa League final.

But when it comes to strength, it is difficult to say how strong they are. In a strict sense, except for a few top four players Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and several stable teams competing for the sixth place, Tottenham, Everton, etc.

In addition, other Premier League teams - as many as a dozen teams are actually part of the relegation army, including Fulham.

After Hodgson moved to Liverpool in the new season, Fulham invited Mark Hughes. Mark Hughes has rich coaching experience in the Premier League. Of course, his level is difficult to evaluate. When the Middle Eastern tycoon took over Manchester City, he was

He is the head coach of Manchester City, and his father, the financial sponsor, gave a lot of money to buy players. Who knew that after spending 200 million pounds, Mark Hughes' team did not even win the championship. In December last year, he was of course

Manchester City fired.

Mark Hughes has not been in charge of the team for long and does not know Fulham very well. After the start of the game, he did not play well in the two games and got two consecutive draws.

Wen Sheng's Crystal Palace had much better momentum than his team, but in this game, both sides played poorly. The game ended at 2:2 at Selhurst Park, another draw.

Wen Sheng didn't know how to evaluate this game. In terms of offense, Vardy still failed to get into the state. One of the two goals came from Boateng's shot, and the other came from De Bruyne's cross that caused the opponent's goal.

dragon.

In the summer, to be precise, it should be during the winter break last year, Manchester United and Fulham reached an agreement on the transfer of Smalling. This summer, Smalling officially reported to Manchester United. Last season, Smalling

Lin has grown rapidly under Hodgson and is the rock of Fulham's defense.

This summer, he left the team and had a great impact on Fulham's defense. It happened that Senderos, the free agent Fulham recruited from Arsenal, encountered injuries again. Therefore, Fulham lost every game in the new season.

As for the ball, as a head coach, Mark Hughes's defense does not seem to be his strength at all.

Crystal Palace also conceded two goals. These two goals had a lot to do with Morgan and Onyewu. The two made two consecutive mistakes in just ten minutes, ruining Crystal Palace's good game.

Judging from the whole game, their performance was acceptable most of the time, but their biggest mistake was their failure at critical moments, which also proved their unqualification. They failed to pass the Sky Sports ratings after the game.

"Why?!" Wen Sheng also had a million whys in his head.

Why do these two guys look no worse than Lawrence, but they just can’t!

After watching the video over and over again, Wen Sheng found that the two men's understanding of positions was not at all adequate. To put it bluntly, they might know their roles and positions in their heads, but it was different when they acted.

But no matter what kind of problems they have, Wen Sheng feels more and more that the purchase of Benatia is extremely urgent. The transfer window is about to close. He now asks Morelli about the transfer progress every day.

Morelli and Zahavi went to Italy specifically to deal with Benatia. Dealing with the Pozzo family was not an easy task.

Although Benatia is one of the lottery tickets they want to scratch, and the importance is not that strong, but some people want to rent and some want to buy out, they naturally have to make a good deal, even if they know that Crystal Palace's purchase of Benatia is just

Because the main center back McCarthy was seriously injured.

"I really hate these damn Italians. They are too stingy and spend every penny. I hate doing business with them!" Morelli complained to Wen Sheng on the phone.

"As long as the price does not exceed four million, we can do it!" Wen Sheng said directly, regardless of Morelli's intentions.

The general manager and the head coach do not necessarily have the same views on the acquisition of players. It is impossible for Morelli to pay 4 million to trade for Benatia, because it is not worth it.

He doesn't know Benatia's future, so he doesn't think Benatia's future value is much higher than four million.

Besides, in his eyes, no player is irreplaceable. Benatia is expensive and he can find other players. Why must he hang himself from a tree?! No matter how tight the time is, it shouldn't be like this!

Wen Sheng believes that players are human beings, and there is no copying of people, nor of copying of players. It is impossible for every player to find a 100% substitute in the ball market! Benatia is irreplaceable, and he is who he is.

, he is different from other players, there may be people who are better than him, and there may be players who are worse than him, but he still has certain characteristics that others do not have.

Once you take a fancy to it, Wen Sheng will be very willing to give you money, but of course there is still a necessary bottom line.

He is bound to win Benatia, so he mentioned his bottom line of 4 million pounds.

But in fact, the so-called high price raised by the Pozzo family was only 2.3 million pounds. This price was a point of dispute between Morelli and Pozzo.

Morelli hopes that the buyout fee will be one million pounds and the loan fee will be 300,000 pounds.

Wen Sheng's statement was just to give Morelli confidence. It not only let him know his determination to acquire Benatia, but also let him know that Benatia was favored by him and he was also an expert after all.

The deal was finally done.

On the 30th, Crystal Palace officially announced that it has loaned French defender Benatia from Udinese for one season, with priority rights to acquire him next summer.

The right of first refusal is just a literal meaning. In fact, Crystal Palace must buy out Benatia next year and needs to pay Udinese a buyout fee of 2 million pounds.

When Morelli returned from Italy, Wen Sheng said to him: "You think you are being forced by the Pozzo family, but in my opinion, they may regret this deal sooner or later. Benatia is definitely worth 4 million."

All the money has been given, what can Morelli do? He can only smile bitterly and hope that what Wen Sheng said will come true. His position as general manager is not easy to occupy. He has to be responsible to Parrish, not Wen Sheng.

Just the night before the match between Crystal Palace and Fulham, the Europa League draw was completed.

Crystal Palace is in Group K with Italian team Napoli, Eredivisie powerhouse Utrecht, and Romanian powerhouse Steaua Bucharest.

There are three teams participating in this year's Europa League Premier League: Manchester City, Liverpool, and Aston Villa.

Crystal Palace is the winner of the FA Cup. According to the quota allocation by the Football Association, it is directly qualified to enter the Europa League group stage, while Manchester City and Aston Villa have to play in the play-offs.

Aston Villa failed to beat Austria's Rapid Vienna in the final round of qualifying, so the only teams that entered the Europa League were Manchester City and Crystal Palace.

Manchester City has a lot of money and guns. Of course, they don't have to worry about who their opponents are in the group. However, Crystal Palace is different. It doesn't matter if Xia Chuang spent more than 30 million and nearly 40 million. This can't change the fact that they are poor.

Manchester City is waving a lot of checks to buy people again this summer. Balotelli alone is worth 25 million pounds in one transaction. This amount of money from Crystal Palace is really a small case!

Anyway, Wen Sheng felt that his fortune was not very good. The strongest team in the group was Napoli. After De Laurentiis took the boss's C position, Napoli gradually recovered and played better and better in Serie A in recent years.

Of course Wen Sheng also knew that Napoli was the most powerful challenger during the period when Juventus dominated Serie A, but they had indeed maximized their lineup and could do nothing.

The current head coach of Naples is Mazzarri. The Napoli team led by Mazzarri has stars such as Hamsik, Lavezzi and Cavani. It has strong offensive firepower. Wen Sheng has to consider whether his defense line is feasible.
Chapter completed!